Worldwide, conifers are most successful on sites subject to chronic stresses that limit productivity (low temperatures, nutrient poverty, poor drainage). They are poorly represented in the lowland tropics but are often important in montane tropical forests. Here I explore some functional differences between leaf and xylem traits of conifer and angiosperm trees and their implications for the dis...

Founded in 1991 and published by the Indian Association for Angiosperm Taxonomy (IAAT), Rheedea is an international peer-reviewed journal with four online two print issues per year. The will be March, June, September December while printed June December.

The mtDNA of Cycas taitungensis is a circular molecule of 414,903 bp, making it 2- to 6-fold larger than the known mtDNAs of charophytes and bryophytes, but similar to the average of 7 elucidated angiosperm mtDNAs. It is characterized by abundant RNA editing sites (1,084), more than twice the number found in the angiosperm mtDNAs. The A + T content of Cycas mtDNA is 53.1%, the lowest among know...

We evaluated differences in the rates and correlates of decomposition among 32 fern and angiosperm litter types collected in Hawai’i. Leptosporangiate ferns were separated into groups based on phylogeny: ‘polypod’ ferns, a monophyletic clade of ferns that diversified in the Cretaceous, and all other (‘non-polypod’) ferns that diversified earlier. We measured initial litter chemistry (nutrients ...

Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary rates for 36 alcohol dehydrogenases (ADHs) from vertebrates and plants are described, with ADHs from fission yeast and from baker's yeasts as outgroups. Vertebrate sequences include 15 mammalian, 2 avian, and 1 amphibian ADH, as well as one sequence deduced from a human pseudogene. Plant ADH sequences include 1 from a gymnosperm (loblolly pine) and 16...

Species diversity varies greatly across the different taxonomic groups that comprise the Tree of Life (ToL). This imbalance is particularly conspicuous within angiosperms, but is largely unexplained. Seed mass is one trait that may help clarify why some lineages diversify more than others because it confers adaptation to different environments, which can subsequently influence speciation and ex...